


Start of Something New

by dez (sawasawako)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Pre-The Heroes of Olympus, percabeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 20:11:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16436000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sawasawako/pseuds/dez
Summary: in which Percy finishes saying what he wanted to say to Annabeth before they were rudely interrupted.





	Start of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i took a chunk of text from the pdf of The Last Olympian itself for context and changed the pronouns to third person so it flows into my own continuation of the scene, with an added twist to the original ;) 
> 
> i've always been curious about what Percy had to say, so here's my interpretation of it. enjoy!

"You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"

"You'd probably kick my butt."

"You _know_ I'd kick your butt."

Percy brushed the cake off his hands. "When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable . . . Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal."

Annabeth kept her eyes on the horizon. "Yeah?"

"Then up on Olympus," Percy said, "when they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking—"

"Oh, you so wanted to."

"Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thought—I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking . . ." His throat felt really dry.

"Anyone in particular?" Annabeth asked, her voice soft. He looked over and saw that she was trying not to smile.

"You're laughing at me," he complained.

"I am not!"

"You are _so_ not making this easy."

She smiled for real this time but kept silent, so Percy drew in a breath and continued, "I was thinking... I want to experience it, when things get better. If they get better... With you." He could feel his face heat up with those last two words, but he pushed on. "I... honestly couldn't have done half of what I did the past few years without you. Being there. And the others, of course, but..." He swallowed and glanced at Annabeth. Her eyes were trained on the horizon, the moonlight casting her face in a slant of silver. She was angled away from him but he could see the linger of a smile.

He'd just started talking about this on impulse and he was hyperaware of her presence next to him and of how much he wanted her to look at him right now. The night was tranquil but he was tingling all over from the nerves. "We're here now, despite it all... It's got to mean something, right?" His entire body was tense, bracing for her response.

There was a long pause in which Annabeth didn't say anything, didn't look at him, and looked like she hadn't even been listening to him. Her gaze was distant and she was revealing nothing. Percy's heart thudded in his chest and he began to wonder if he should've just kept his mouth shut. It struck him that they've never had this conversation before; they've come close a lot of times, but crisis always interrupted, or they were reminded of their priorities, or they ran out of time. He recalled all the times they'd argued – about petty things, about important things, about nothing in particular at all. They didn't get along, and sometimes it felt like it was really going to stay that way. Percy hated it, hated the barrier that was erected between them even before they became acquainted, as if the Fates had also decided this was something he had no say in. There were times he wondered if this was a test, too, to see if they valued their friendship enough to transcend their parents' legacy.  

But if there was one thing he'd learned, it was that for him, nothing would ever come easy, especially not this, whatever it was, which had been growing, unfolding, blooming, even as they bickered and fought, hugged and made up, sat in silence together, and faced hoards of enemies side by side despite it all.

That really summed up their relationship: _despite it all_.

Annabeth finally turned to look at him. Her gray eyes, whose gaze Percy had met so many times and that he could understand without an uttered word, glinted in the moonlight. "I want to experience it, too. With you. That's what it all means, right?" she whispered, lips trembling, but there was not a single waver in her voice.

And then Percy did something that probably would've surprised even Aphrodite herself. He leaned in and kissed Annabeth on the lips, closing the short distance between them in one breath.

All at once, the tension, the uncertainty, the ache abandoned his body, leaving him feeling like daybreak had happened inside his own bones. It felt like they were literally slotting into place, finally meeting halfway, finally reconciled. All it took was some guts, to be the one who dared this time.

He leaned into the kiss, feeling like his brain was melting right through his body, feeling like this was _right_. Just _feeling._

Despite it all.

 

 

 

  

 

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